Welcome to the first acoustic cover song music video of a brand new week here at the Laptop Sessions. Tonight, I’m bringing you my second cover from Johnny Cash’s first posthumous release, American Recordings V: A Hundred Highways. Yes, that’s right… I specified “first” posthumous release, because I just read that American VI is scheduled for release later this year. Apparently, Cash was working on V up until he passed away. I was under the impression that V was a collection of material that was still unreleased, but that’s more along the lines of what VI will be. Even so, I am very excited to hear this final collection when it is released.

What brought on this sudden return to Johnny Cash’s recent work, you might ask? Well, I found the first American Recordings CD on sale at Newbury’s last week and decided to pick it up. Truly good new albums have been far and few between this summer, with the exception of the Fruit Bats’ The Ruminant Band earlier this month — a very pleasant surprise to say the least!

I’ve been enjoying American Recordings thus far; it clearly displayed a lot of potential, which was explored on the four — and soon to be five — subsequent editions of the series. The only one I have yet to hear is American Recordings II, which includes the classic “I’ve Been Everywhere,” which Jim worked into my version of “Folsom Prison Blues” way back when for my second Laptop Session cover song video ever.

The song I chose for tonight is “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” one of my favorites from American Recordings V. It is a traditional song that Cash truly made his own, a song that has the ability to be simultaneously catchy/rockin’, and yet haunting/foreboding. I had a fun time playing and practicing it the past few days, and I hope you’ll enjoy watching it. As I mentioned earlier, this is the second song I’ve covered from this album, if you count Johnny Cash’s cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind,” one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

In other music news, I spent some time tonight reading about R.E.M.’s forthcoming double-CD live album that will include 39 tracks culled from their 2007 shows at the Olympia. To be more specific, they played five shows in a row as they tried out new material for their 2008 album Accelerate. In addition, they also played their hits and deep tracks. I’ve wanted to hear these performances since I heard their new album, and I’m truly thrilled to hear this concert when it comes out in a couple months. If you’re an R.E.M. fan, too, you should check out the videos for the two songs — the excellent “Living Well is the Best Revenge,” for which I recorded a Laptop Session, and Automatic for the People opening track “Drive — that have debuted on RollingStone.com.

And if you’re someone who has lost interest in Michael Stipe and company since they went through what can only be called a boring streak recently, then you need to give Accelerate a shot. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ll leave you with one final, music-related note. I added to Paste Magazine‘s trending topic on Twitter.com about the best albums of the 00’s, and shortly thereafter learned that I am the only person in the universe to have ever tweeted about the Wallflowers’ Red Letter Days, much less mention the album as one of the best during the decade.

(Capo 1st fret)
Am
You can run on for a long time,
Dsus2 Am
Run on for a long time,
Am
Run on for a long time.
C Dsus2 Em Am
Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down.
C Dsus2 Em Am
Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down.

You can run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time.
Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down;
Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down.

Well you may throw your rock, hide your hand,
Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man.
But as sure as God made black and white,
What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light.

You can run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time.
Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down;
Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down.

Go tell that long tongue liar;
Go and tell that midnight rider.
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the backbiter,
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down.
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down.
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down.

** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **